How well to Air cooled GS's handle hot weather and stop n go traffic?

[Roadwarrior]

Just thought I'd throw out this question to any of you with more experience on the matter. In the summer I ride to work pretty much every day, and unfortunatly the ride home can be anywhere from 20-40 minutes of stop and go traffic crawling. I have also been caught in traffic chos on the highways where I have been stop and go for as much as an hour.

In very warm weather, I have noticed what seemed to be a little power lost, and the engine seemed to really radiate heat. My question is this:

Will driving in heavy traffic overheat and damage my engine? Or do I have nothing to worry about?

[Grandpa]

I wouldn't worry about a thing. Been doing the same thing for years. The heat bothers me much more than it bothers the 1100. I put up with it.

[focus frenzy]

a oil cooler with a small fan to move the air when still can be your friend.

[tfb]

The engines get toasty hot in summer traffic but they seem to survive OK; I've never heard of one seizing because of slow progress through traffic heat, put it that way.

I suppose the real question is, Does all this extra heat affect the longevity of our wonderful air-cooled GS/GSX engines? Lots of folks recommend the fitting of oil coolers (and so do I), esp. if the engine has been bored-out and has non-standard cams, ported head, etc. Or as people like to say, 'hotted up'.

But for all that, I haven't seen any actual statistics or anything on longevity or engine wear, in engines with oil coolers vs. those without. Let alone any stats on the temps that our engines get to with oil coolers fitted, vs. those that don't have them.

Sooo... if you don't fit a cooler, you'll be OK. Fit a cooler, and have greater peace of mind. And here endeth my 2-cents worth.

Mike.

[Doctor Shifty]

My GS1000G would get rather rattly in hot weather and lots of traffic. Fitting an oil cooler makes it run noticably quieter. Then again, it might just be my imagination telling the brain cell that counts my money that it was money well spent. :-)

Kim

[tfb]

Hmm, I'd be willing to bet that it's not your imagination! Air cooled engines can get desperately hot sitting in summer traffic, and extreme heat knocks the oil's viscosity for six.

Mike.

[bgmart450]

My 450 went from southwest of Houston to northeast of Houston on a daily basis in the summer, no problems.

Hwy59 through downtown is no picnic... I don't mis that at all

[lhanscom]

I had an issue with my exhaust valve seals going bad do to heat, from stop and go traffic, more stop, then go. That was a modified engine though, and produced much more heat then a stocker. The only other thing is the clutch getting grabby, to the point of having to adjust the cable. No lasting effects from that one though.

[jonr]

Roadwarrior,

I can tell you that the 2 valve models from your era (77-79) do not fair that well in 85+ degrees fahrenheit. Engine killer? No, but your pipes may blue a bit and you'll notice a decrease in performance. My 78 750 is the same bike as your plus a few extra CCs and I avoid in town stop and go if it is 90+ outside.

I notice you hail from Toronto and while it doesn't get wildly hot up there, I know it's hot in traffic when you're among all those cars and blazingly hot black top. If you're electric starter is in good shape, I would just kill it if you know you're going to be stopped for a while.

I've never seen any oil coolers for our bikes, but that doesn't mean you couldn't modify one to fit your 550.

-Jon

[bwringer]

Extensive idling will break down the oil a little faster, so you'll want to invest in good synthetic or semi-synthetic motorcycle oil (Golden Spectro seems to keep my bike a little less rattly than others.)

[scotty]

use a synthetic with a high number in the summer--5/50--20/50 and if you are one of those lucky aussies 20/60. my oil temp is noticably lower when i use synthetic oil. naturally the oil cooler is another option.

[Roadwarrior]

I always use 20W50 Mobil 1 synthetic in the summer. I found that with 10w40 regular motorcycle oil, the bike didn't shift as well when it was hot.

[kent]

At times here in sacramento Ca. when the temp gets into the tripple digits the 1100 seems to get a little ****y, but I think I suffer more than the bike does

[sidd]

You could just avoid the traffic by splitting lanes, if that's legal where you're from. Living in the city, its a fact of life for me. I would second (third? fourth?) the idea of a oil cooler if you don't already have one.

[Superfly]

I have a cooler on my lil' 450, but it was in the desert for a bit, and I figured it could not hurt...